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Caprinut's 78' Ford Capri 2.3S (V6) - Slow progress... 3 years 11 months ago #59345

Looks awsome, nice colour choice !!

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Caprinut's 78' Ford Capri 2.3S (V6) - Slow progress... 3 years 11 months ago #59359

Thank you :y:

And like I hoped, the color really pops in sunshine

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Caprinut's 78' Ford Capri 2.3S (V6) - Slow progress... 3 years 11 months ago #59360

Woo woo woo. This blue is so deep and glossy. Congrats. That's crazy Richard. :y:
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Caprinut's 78' Ford Capri 2.3S (V6) - Slow progress... 3 years 11 months ago #59447

Looks really Good !
Proud owner of the Bruiser Family
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Caprinut's 78' Ford Capri 2.3S (V6) - Slow progress... 3 years 5 months ago #62417

Since last update my Capri was transported to a storage unit a bit closer to me in late May.

Have not done anything to the body since then, but on Friday I dragged my Capri out of the unit to give it a wash.
Was very dirty after nearly 6 months in the unit without cover, and it was also covered it road grime since it rained that day it was transported.


It then was pulled into the sun to dry off the last drops of water, better indeed!




I'm in love with that color!

The reason it is storage unit right now is because I have no garage or carport to park it in.
But that will change next year when I move to a new place with both my own carport and my mate is going to install a lift in his garage, so things get much easier.

Also I try to get small bits ready to get installed when times comes, like refurb things, paint etc.
But with my illness it is slow going to say the least...

But I did manage to open most of my seats in September as I want a retrim.
First I wanted just to recolor the vinyl, but more and more I looked at them, I could not live with how poorly these Recaro seats were trimmed back in the day.
Since my car is a "S" version (Sport) I had a strong feeling that they still featured the orginal trim under the vinyl...

This is how the front seat was looking
Notice the backrest middle section is sewn together with the top white piece, they should not be like that as the center piece is a seperate piece.


Luckly some of the stitches was looking like this, and it might be a reason for that..


And with poor craftmanship, I mean like this..


And the foam seens to have shrinken..


Backseat was also pulled apart.




And luckly both front and rear seat had the part I was looking for, this orginal middle section!


That tartan fabric is a bit nostalgic for me as both my first Capris had that very very color pattern, which in Capri world is called orange Carla.
There was also red, grey and brown versions depending on exterior color.
I do know the orange crash a bit with the blue body color, but blue cars with Recaro seats (S spec) did actually come with the the orange Carla.
The fabric fetch high money today in perfect condition, as they only came with Capri and a handful of Escort Mk2's.
Orange Carla was only available 77'-80' depending on the market (maninland Europe got them in 77', UK in 78'.

But I will try to tie in the orange into the interior somehow.

My second main color will be GM Zyber Grey Metallic on some of the suspension bits, it's a dark grey color which I think will modernize it a bit.
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Caprinut's 78' Ford Capri 2.3S (V6) - Slow progress... 3 years 5 months ago #62418

WawaWahoooo. The capri is one of my favorite eurpean ford with mk1 mk2 escort. Yours is just awesome. And you have THE recaro seats. Congrats Richard. You have a pearl.
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Caprinut's 78' Ford Capri 2.3S (V6) - Slow progress... 3 years 5 months ago #62422

Thank you Flo!

This is how the seats looks from factory


Sadly the side fabrick and the orginal backrest vinyl is long gone on mine, both on front and rear seats.
The piping (the plastic tube on the seam) is torn, worn some places, so I think my best move is to replace those.
Not sure if I want to replace the vinyl altogether, but I like the idea of fitting fake alcantera to make it a bit modern.
I do need to remove the vinyl to be able to service the foam, and I will try the steam trick first (if you blow steam into the foam, the foam will get back to the orginal shape, so in most cases there is no need for new foam.

This month my funds is all gone, but I'll try to contact some upholstery shops around me to see if they can help.
For my doorcars I think I will try to recover them as the chrome strip seen in picture above as loosened from the doorcard and since they have been glued on instead of nails like orginal, some of the vinyl is now missing as it has been thorn off.
I plan to cover these with fake Alcantara (I will never be able to afford real Alcantara) and I may try to give the hrome trim a modern twist.
For that I need some thin foam that can be able be cut a groove into, and at the same time still feel a bit soft to touch.

My rear luggage plastic covers does not seem to clean up, so I'm thinking of cover up those to.
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Caprinut's 78' Ford Capri 2.3S (V6) - Slow progress... 3 years 5 months ago #62424

I learned on wheeler dealers some weeks ago that recaro are hard to find. Your resto project sounds awesome. I love alcantara. :y:
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Caprinut's 78' Ford Capri 2.3S (V6) - Slow progress... 3 years 5 months ago #62429

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A British classic.
I saw at a local garage recently a Vauxhall Astra GTE mk 1.
Exactly like this one. It was like being transported back to the 1980’s.

Keep going Richard, you’ll get there.
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Caprinut's 78' Ford Capri 2.3S (V6) - Slow progress... 3 years 5 months ago #62436

Thank you!

Known as Kadett D GTE here.
Those are rare, with only 36.000 units made of that GTE, and only 1/3 was RHD.
I think there is only one registered here in Norway.
They was not that popular and the GTE was just produced 83-84' and was replaced by the Kadett E, with the sporty GSI being on top.
The E body was very popular, but there is few of them out there today as Opel/Vauxhall rusted like crazy.
My workmate in the 90s had a red GSI which I belive is long gone now.

Our gouverment tried to get rid as many old vehicles as possible in 96 when they raised the scrap value from 82 pounds to 496 pound in todays money, many good cars vanished that was far too good to be scrapped.
Today scrap value is 247 punds, so you will never see any car sold here for less than 400 ish pounds in any shape, most of then need MOT, which is neeed every second year to be allowed to be driven on the roads.

Capri is fetching good money today, basket cases from £2500 to 16k ish for good ones, modified and standard.
Rare models goes way beond that.
A 280 (special version of the last 2.8i made - 1038 units) was sold for £54.000 in UK in 2016, very low milage, museum piece.

Luckly I got mine early 2012 when prices was reasonable ish, and I would have paid way more for same standard here in Norway.
Mine was imported from Lithuania by me.
My car was sold new in Germany and if I remeber correctly it was imported to Lithuania around 2005, and I bought it from the second owner there.
Service was something that the Lithuania owners seem to not understand, no anti freeze, just water so many things on the engine is corroded, steering rack bushes was completly gone, so much that the good 205/60-13 tires were bald when I finally arrived at home after traveling throught Sweden to south Norway.
And the carburetor was completly shot, no accleration pump, no choke and to make things worse the dizzy seems to have no advance to the timing.
It was a pig to drive, too fast throttle and it would bog down, so you had to ease the throttle to keep the car moving.

Apart from the badly rust repair in the past, worn out carb, sagged springs, worn out steering rack mount bushes and rear anti rollbar bushes, worn sunroof mechanismn and the horrid suspension, it was really a good starting point as most of the body were sound, drivetrain good and interior complete, albeit horrid looking to my eyes.

The two items I do need to get it driveable and complete are front bumper as that was rusted from inside out, the ends was very weak, and I need a steering wheel as the current one is not one that I like, I sold my old steering wheel years ago.
At one point I had a 4 spoke RS steering wheel, but I had to sell it to make some funds,
Also had coilovers for the front, sold those but bought another set that I need springs for.

So far I have these new bits waiting to go on:

#Complete 2" exhaust with 3" tips.
#16" BBS looalike wheels, 8+9"
#Sierra Cosworth 2wd 4 pot calipers.
#285mm front brake disc and brackets.
#RGA rear spoiler that looks like standard tailgate spoiler, but with extended lip
#New rubbers for the doors and tailgate.
#New sunroof cable and seal (Golf Mk1)
#Pool table type of gearknob.
#New rear bumper
#New covers for bumper end caps.
#New bonnet cable.
#New bonned hight adjuster rubbers.
#New fuel flap door rubber stop (knob painted this)
#New bolts and clips for the front grill.
#Inlet manifold gasket for 2.3 V6 engine.
#New cargo area lights
#New Etanol safe fuel hose R9 SAE30
#New Gold valve stems for my 16" since those feature gold bolts.
#Various quality bulbs.
#Poly bushes
#Axle location kit (hinder the axle to sving side to side)
#Adjustable front track control arms
#63mm wheelstuds
#Rear axle rebuild kit
#Front wheelbearings

Secondhand items:
#Single leaf springs
#Front coilovers
#Orginal S spec alloy wheels.
#Land Rover Defender master cylinder (25mm - this may be swapped to new item for safety reasons)
#Brake booster to go along with the Defender MC.
#34 Weber DGAS carburetor

Things I know I need:
#4x Tires, either for the 13" S wheels or for the 16"
#Steering wheel.
#New U bolts for the single leaf springs
#New head gaskets 2.3 V6
#Distributor (suspect my old one is sized regarding timing)
#Bonnet gas strut conversion kit as I have done away with the bonnet stay.
#Front bumper
#Fuel lines under the car, either plastic or brass (orginal is plastic)
#1 Strut top as bearing is sized.
#Alcantara lookalike fabric for doorcards and seats.
#Foam for doorcards.
#Front and rear windscreen rubbers as the secondhand ones I bought has shrinked so they do not fit properly any longer.

That's what I remember on top of my head atm.

Headliner is being made as we speak by an friend.
Hope there is enough fabric to do the sun visors as well, since mine are shabby afrer storage.

Next task is to make it waterproof.
Fit windowframe in the doors.
Fit windows into the doors.
Glue the side windows in place.
Fit sunroof.
To be able to do that, the old sunroof mechanismn needs to be pulled apart, cleaned and then new cable and seal can be fitted.
Windowframes needs to be cleaned, painted and fitted, along with new rubber inside the window frame channel.
Side window surroundings needs to be painted as per stock to hide that there is no seal beween window trim and side windows itself.
Then doorlocks can be fitted after been cleaned and painted.
Rear lights needs to be fitted.
Rear bumper side cover clips then can be fitted.

After that it should be waterproof so it can be moved, worked on inside etc.
The whole underside will be covered with bedliner (like the stuff painted in the bed of pickups), this have to wait when the weather is warmer again.

I should make a priority list really, so the most needed items should be done first...
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Last edit: by caprinut.
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